21 Friday Nov 2025
Posted in food, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized
checked out a friend’s condo recently… it was lovely and nicely decorated…
we had a great visit over tea and raisin scones (she makes the best)… and I was given some to bring home;-)…
thinking how blessed I am to have so many wonderful people in my life…
13 Thursday Nov 2025
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, deck, delightful, garden, moments, nature, plants, reading, sunshine, talking, time, watering, weather, widow
had a delightful morning yesterday…
spent time talking with the plants as they were watered and turned… a few are struggling with the move indoors but most are happy…
then I spent a glorious hour on the deck, in the sunshine, reading my current novel…
23 Thursday Oct 2025
Posted in business, family, food, health, life, moments, retirement, technology, travel, Uncategorized
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, butterflies, cacao, cake, daughter, family, food, moments, Ottawa, short, The Leaf, time, treat, visit, widow
had a wonderful, but short, visit with my Ottawa daughter over the last few days…
she had been to Calgary for an event and stopped here on her way home…
lots of time together as we caught up in person… late nights and early mornings while she was here… and lots of laughter…
always cake from Baked Expectations when she arrives;-)…
we spent a lovely morning at The Leaf noticing the growth since she was last here and counting cacao pods…
she also spotted the first chileo on the second tree… made me laugh cause I’ve been looking for ages trying to spot one on that tree…
we visited the butterflies although they weren’t very active as it was cool and overcast but it was fun to see them together… the Canadian Museum of Nature, in Ottawa, currently has a butterfly display as well so we often compare which butterflies we each see, lol…
we worked on a plan for our next trip together and did lots of research on the computer…
dinners in and out as we ate some of her favourites and then we were headed back to the airport for her flight home…
always a treat;-)…
10 Friday Oct 2025
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
well, it took lots more time, and water, to get the houseplants watered Wednesday morning, lol…
seems there are a great many of them;-)…
I’ve had to rearrange some of the ones that are now in the window so that I still have a good view of the bird feeders…
especially these days as the birds prepare for migration and are very busy getting their meals…
08 Monday Sep 2025
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
barely, big girl pants, blessed, buds, friends, garden, moments, pond, summer, time, water, water lily, weather, widow
lovely afternoon in the garden…
spotted a new bud coming up on the water lily, even though the first flower barely opened due to the cold weather, sigh…
and then spent a great time with my buddies as we enjoyed the beautiful summer day;-)…
13 Wednesday Aug 2025
Posted in family, garden, life, loss, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
attempts, big girl pants, blessed, blocks, friends, garden, grandson, leaking, meltdown, moments, new liner, pond, rocks, Technology, time, water, waterfall, widow
the work on the pond waterfall area started in early June… when the first two fixes didn’t work we moved on to more serious attempts…
the water in the upper pond was removed, and all the gunk was vacuumed out…
a group of three attempted to lift out the waterfall rock… unfortunately, it broke in the process… one of us might have had a meltdown;-(…
next the remaining blocks were removed and a new liner was installed… then the blocks were put back in… a bit of a puzzle to remember where each one went, lol… possibly they should have been numbered;-)…
the next step involved filling cracks with foam and gluing down some of the rocks…
with help from a friend the main piece of the waterfall rock was carefully lowered back into its spot…
it took three of us, but the three pieces of the waterfall rock were joined together with special rock cement and we waited a week for it to cure…
then the flat rock portion was glued down and left to cure…
next the hose was put down inside the liner and the waterfall spillway was placed back into the waterfall rock… there were a lot of crossed fingers at that point…
finally, on Sunday night, August 10th the waterfall was turned on…
it was too late for a good picture, so this one was taken the next morning…
there is no leaking 🤪…
a great job by my housemate and various friends throughout the process as issues arose and heat and rain caused stoppages…
what a treat to hear the water running and not have to worry about adding water all the time;-)…
10 Sunday Aug 2025
Posted in garden, health, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
amazing, big girl pants, blessed, bloom, flowers, garden, moments, morning glories, nature, open, time, treat, watched, weather, widow
the blue morning glories have taken off;-)…
yesterday I sat in the garden and watched three of them bloom over half an hour…
it is quite spectacular to almost see them opening as you watch…
01 Friday Aug 2025
Posted in family, health, life, loss, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized
Tags
55th, anniversary, beloved, big girl pants, blessed, garden, giggles, leaking, love, memories, moments, morning glories, nature, pond, remembering, squirrels, time, widow
today I’ve been giggling over a couple of things as I remember 42 years together, on what should have been our 55th wedding anniversary…
first thing I wandered the garden and took pictures of the morning glories…
some, where they were planted, and some that have just found a spot they like, lol…
I remember my beloved bringing me pictures of the ones blooming in the garden each day when he came to visit me in hospital around our fortieth anniversary…
he was just getting used to the camera on his phone, so it was a big deal for him to take the time to take pictures of flowers…
the second thing is the pond…
it has been leaking for ages, but only when the waterfall is running…
we had the leaking problem for a year or so before he died and it was driving him crazy, trying to figure out the problem…
finally, as I was reading on the back deck, two red squirrels were having a battle over one of the feeders… he and squirrels never got on, so it was funny to have them yelling at each other today…
16 Wednesday Jul 2025
Posted in business, food, garden, health, life, moments, nature, Photography, retirement, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
big girl pants, blessed, camera, eggs, fields, flowers, friend, fun, garden, happy, Miss Millie’s Flower Farm, moments, mug, nature, Nikon, picking, plants, time, weather, widow
this morning we drove to Miss Millie’s Flower Farm and had a lovely time in the fields…
my adventure buddy gathered flowers, and I gathered photographs with my Nikon… great fun for both of us…
of the 125 photos I took, I was very pleased with about 75…
the weather was perfect, overcast and cool, and there were few bugs… we had been there in August of 2022 and the mosquitoes had been voracious at that time…
the fields were not as far along due to the weather but it is a beautiful place to spend time in… so happy I remembered that taking pictures was more fun for me than gathering flowers;-)… and nice to get the camera out for a change;-)…
I also brought home some fresh eggs and a new tea mug (Sugar & Spice Pottery);-)…
15 Sunday Jun 2025
Posted in business, food, garden, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather
Tags
bibs, big girl pants, blessed, Charleswood Rotary Club, delicious, dinner, fixings, food, friends, fun, garden, housemate, lobster, moments, party, pond, relax, rest, Rotary, sunset, Technology, time, weather, widow
Friday was a delightful day… the sun shone and the temperature rose to 25°C…
throughout the day, I prepped for a dinner party… between organizing and setting the table on the deck, there were plenty of opportunities to sit, read, and relax…
preparing a space or food for special people is always enjoyable for me as I think about those who I am doing this work for and how important they are to me…
for this gathering, it was mainly about making the space comfortable and considering what dishes we would need as the food was being picked up from a Charleswood Rotary fundraiser…
they provided a whole lobster, baked potato, fresh bun, coleslaw, brownie, small bottle of wine, with a bib and a lobster fork;-)… each person received a shopping bag with all of the goodies in it… I added a few fixings for the potatoes, warm facecloths with lemon for our fingers, and garlic butter in warmers…
once the food was warmed up, we had a lesson in how to eat the whole crustacean… I was a bit slow, lol, so had to keep having information repeated…
the weather was perfect, well, except that the wind kept blowing out some of the butter warmers… lots of conversation and story telling kept us busy throughout the meal…
my housemate took the requisite group photo which he was happy to do (and not be in) before we spent time around the pond…
happily, the fish came out for a short visit before returning to their favourite spot under the bridge…
and before you knew it, everyone headed off into the sunset;-)…
herbiggirlpants 